Review Roundup: WHEN IT HAPPENS TO YOU At Park Theatre

Amanda Abbington stars in a theatrical memoir by New York Times best-selling author Tawni O'Dell, directed by Park Theatre's Artistic Director Jez Bond. Originally premiering Off Broadway with Tawni O'Dell playing herself, When It Happens to You is based on her lived experience as a mother holding her family together after she receives a 3am call that no mother ever wants to get. 

Joining Amanda Abbington onstage is Rosie Day and Miles Molan, and Tok Stephen. 

See what the critics are saying...

Josh Maughan, BroadwayWorld: When I walked out of When It Happens to You, all I wanted to do was hug my sisters. Part of me had forgotten I had seen a show, the other part couldn’t stop thinking about the last twenty minutes of it. That’s the sign of good theatre. Theatre that lights a fire underneath you, theatre that gets inside your head – such a reaction can only come from something truly impactful.

Chris Wiegand, The Guardian: There is a surprising stream of humour throughout, bringing a certain verisimilitude of the fun and levity naturally found in family dynamics, but a crucial, palpable sense of familial bonds is absent. The jokes are commonplace, which is part of the point that this is an account of real life, but it adds to a growing sense that O’Dell’s work is more diary than drama. Tara’s occasionally sardonic take on what she and others could have said, and what they actually did say, jars more on stage than in the script. There is also too much thinly sketched plot and some needless peripheral roles.

Fiona Mountford, iNews: Despite the import of the events recounted, Jez Bond’s underwhelming production makes it hard to care overmuch about the characters, as Esme drinks too much to mask her pain and slowly spirals out of control, while Tara herself makes some perplexingly rash decisions. On a bare set backed by a half-hearted tracing of the iconic New York skyline, Esme withdraws ever further into herself, with Day hunched and slouching as a pitiful concave shape of a person.

Nancy Durrant, The Times: Some clunky digressions aside, the script hops along; it’s even funny. Abbington has a warmth and ease that holds your attention: she sells this at a premium. Of course, being O’Dell’s avatar, Tara also gets most of the best lines.

John Groves, LondonTheatre1: The play is superbly structured so that, at times, it is surprisingly upbeat and often very amusing, especially when she, as Tara in the play, is trying to complete a health questionnaire and comes to a full stop at Question 10 which asks her about how much alcohol she consumes. After much internal debate, she comes to the conclusion that we all come to when filling in similar forms! This lightening of the atmosphere means that the moments of agony and despair are all the more poignant, yet in the end, in spite of a denouement that no one expects, leave us feeling as positive as possible about life. This is a terrific play in every respect – and it is given a terrific production by all concerned.

Average Rating: 70.0%

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